The board at Great Ape Trust Bonobo Hope Sanctuary placed famed scientist and center director Sue Savage-Rumbaugh on administrative leave Tuesday until investigators can look into former employees’ allegations that she is mentally unfit for the job, is endangering the apes in her care and should be replaced.

Savage-Rumbaugh will only be allowed near the apes in the presence of sanctuary veterinarian Julie Gilmore of Avondale Veterinary Healthcare Complex in Des Moines, said board chairman Ken Schweller.

“We believe that the situation at the Trust has degraded to the point that there is an immediate danger to the apes’ health and lives,” the 12 people wrote in a joint letter calling for board action.

Board chairman Kenneth Schweller, a retired Buena Vista University professor, said the organization’s board is investigating the allegations. “We’re taking it very seriously,” Schweller said. “There are some serious statements.”

“If it’s true, it’s a very serious matter,” Schweller said. He declined further comment other than to say the board would address the charges.

“The rumors of my mental state are greatly exaggerated and are a disservice to the bonobos,” said Savage-Rumbaugh, executive director of the sanctuary. “This is disgruntled employees.”

Savage-Rumbaugh said most of the caretakers worked at the facility when William Fields was running the program and haven’t had recent contact. A couple were laid off recently.

Savage-Rumbaugh denied the apes are in an danger. None have escaped the campus; one, Nyota, jumped over an interior fence but would not cross the water nearby and never reached the security fence on the property’s perimeter. She denied that she had put any caretakers at risk, saying they only got close to the bonobos when they requested that. No caretakers were bitten by bonobos, she claimed.

Some of the workers were frustrated that they couldn’t move up the career ladder more quickly. She said the bonobos didn’t trust some of the caretakers, making the work difficult. The three current caretakers include Savage-Rumbaugh’s sister, Liz Pugh, and Pugh’s daughter, Heather, both of whom have a long relationship with the apes.

The former workers described as former caretakers and other employees, and friends of Bonobo Hope, a relatively new nonprofit formed to run the campus when it ended its run as a research institution last year. Some have not been on the staff since the conversion to a santuary in January.

Ape trust founder Ted Townsend pulled his funding for the operation at the end of last year, as long planned, and the facility has struggled to raise money to stay open while arranging new homes for the bonobos should they need to be moved.

They called the apes “unwitting victims of human missteps” and added: “We are terrified that something horrible could happen during the intervening days, on top of the apes not being properly cared for as a result of insufficient staffing. We have organized a team of qualified caretakers ready to step in and provide care for the bonobos during a transition period.

The letter offered no proof of any of the allegations and did not describe individual incidents that led the caretakers to file reports with the board.

Medical advisers’ s investigation earlier into a cut on Teco’s foot – which Savage-Rumbaugh accused staffers of causing – found inconclusive evidence and noted the cut could have been from dry skin, a common problem in captive apes.

Savage-Rumbaugh said the facility passed inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is applying for an exhibitors license that would allow the public to buy tickets for visits beginning perhaps next spring. The apes are under the care of a Des Moines veterinarian, she added.

The former caretakers want Savage-Rumbaugh replaced.

“We believe it is necessary to put another person in charge of the laboratory, effective immediately,” the caretakers wrote. This person will be responsible for planning the bonobos’ immediate future, including potentially moving to a new facility, with the bonobos’ well-being as the foremost priority.”

“Immediate action is necessary. We are terrified that something horrible could happen during the intervening days, on top of the apes not being properly cared for as a result of insufficient staffing. We have organized a team of qualified caretakers ready to step in and provide care for the bonobos during a transition period.

Savage-Rumbaugh, named to Time Magazine’s list of the world’s most influential people, was a pioneer in ape communication research. Her work with bonobos Kanzi and Panbanisha has drawn attention across the globe from documentary producers and major publications.

But her strengthening view that apes have real language, that they can create representational art and that they make more than simple tools have brought her criticism, Savage-Rumbaugh said.

But Savage-Rumbaugh has been described as a control freak by former ape trust staffers. Other scientists have questioned her claims that the bonobos showed language skills. Years ago, control of the bonobo lab was transferred to William Fields and Savage-Rumbaugh was declared a scientist with special standing at the trust, then a research center.

Here is the text of the letter:

We, the former associates, employees, and friends of the bonobos at Bonobo Hope/Great Ape Trust, write to you today with grave concern. We fear for the immediate health and safety of the apes at Bonobo Hope/Great Ape Trust. In the past, staff and others outside of Bonobo Hope/Great Ape Trust have raised concerns about both ape care and institutional management to no avail. Most recently, this culminated in the resignation of all but a few of the employees in December of 2011. Now, we believe that the situation at the Trust has degraded to the point that there is an immediate danger to the apes’ health and lives.

It is our belief that Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is not in a state fit to safely oversee the laboratory and bonobo care, and that her management poses a legitimate threat to the well-being of the bonobos. Additionally, it is our belief that the Board of the Trust has neglected to act in the bonobos’ best interests in choosing to support Savage-Rumbaugh. Despite the numerous and overwhelming protestations from ape-care staff, the Board has opted to keep Savage-Rumbaugh in power in an attempt to capitalize on her fame for financial reasons. This, despite the fact that care-takers have observed and reported injuries to apes, unsafe working conditions, and unauthorized ape pregnancies. We suspect that Savage-Rumbaugh’s current mental state exponentially increases the likelihood of these kinds of events happening again in the immediate future.

If you care about the bonobos, as we do, we urge you to contact the board to voice your concerns and demand answers. (They can be contacted at MABWings@aol.com, scoxe@bonobo.org, ursula@biology2.wustl.edu, howellnr@spst.edu, plasley@iastate.edu, ramon-lim@uiowa.edu, olisar@sbcglobal.net, schweller@bvu.edu, steklis@email.arizona.edu, ed-wasserman@uiowa.edu, dwildman@wayne.edu, conniewimer@bpcdm.com)

We believe it is necessary to put another person in charge of the laboratory, effective immediately. This person will be responsible for planning the bonobos’ immediate future, including potentially moving to a new facility, with the bonobos’ well-being as the foremost priority.

Immediate action is necessary. We are terrified that something horrible could happen during the intervening days, on top of the apes not being properly cared for as a result of insufficient staffing. We have organized a team of qualified caretakers ready to step in and provide care for the bonobos during a transition period.

In the past, we have brought our concerns directly to the Board. We believe that to now be insufficient given the severity of the present situation. We turn to you, and ask for your support and for your voice, to give the bonobos the safe, happy life they deserve. They are the unwitting victims of human missteps and they need outside help now more than ever.